Arai
by artemisgirl
Summary: Arai had always known in the process of Haruhi achieving her goal of seeing how far she could go, in the process, she may leave some of her friends behind. He just didn't know it would still hurt so much.


A/N: Written for Ouran flashfics on LJ. No idea how many more of these I'll do; probably as many as my muse tells me to.

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It was supposed to be a simple delivery. A run to drop off a few crates of vegetables at Misuzu's pensione before returning to the grocery to label the prepackaged goods before lunchtime. And when he told his uncle he'd be glad to make the trip up the mountain to Misuzu's, he hadn't counted on it being anything else. 

"_I'm from Tokyo. I came to work at my Uncle's shop for the summer."_

"_Oh! How refreshing! Haruhi, will you put this in the fridge?"_

"_Sure."_

Then again, he hadn't counted on seeing Haruhi Fujioka there, either.

"_Haruhi? **No way! **Haruhi Fujioka?"_

"_Arai..."_

Arai had taken the job at his uncles as a sort of paid vacation. It would be a good way to relax and get away from high school and all the memories that came with it. As a sort of escape from reality, where he could relax and be himself.

Then, of course, _she_ had been around.

And, naturally, as always, she had blown everything to hell.

"_Long time no see, Arai! It's been since middle school graduation, right? How are you?"_

"_Yeah, but why are you here?"_

Things always seemed to get blown off course where Haruhi was concerned.

Arai had been uncomfortable at first, as he had never expected to see her again, and judging from the look in Haruhi's eyes, she had expected the same of him. What were you to discuss with someone you could have kept in touch with but didn't?

It made things slightly awkward.

But Misuzu offered him tea, which would have been rude to refuse, and let Haruhi take a break, and sothe visit withHaruhi started off alright, despite the uneasy terms they had parted on, as they started talking together.

They spent amicable time trading stories about what they were currently doing in high school and who they kept in touch with. Arai listened as she told him about her new friends at her new school, and how Kazumi phoned often, ignoring the slight twinging heart.

After all, what good would it do? While they could have gone to the same high school, and they could have stayed in touch, they didn't, so there was no use worrying over it, now, was there?

However, he should have known the precarious peace wouldn't last.

Her new friends had beenwatching their exchange, andone of them seemed to pick up on his feelings for her and decided to comment on the fact loudly, bringing out dirty laundry to be aired before them all.

And Arai sighed, his heart aching with the pain of the rejection of the day, but he told them the story anyway.

He was a nice guy, after all, wasn't he?

"_Haruhi! You're trying for the special scholarship at Ouran?"_

"_Mmhmm. I really hope I make it."_

"_I-I guess I should wish you luck- but I really hoped we'd get to go to the same high school."_

"_What? You should have told me sooner!"_

"_What!"_

"_I think Ouran accepts more than one scholarship student. C'mon, let's go ask the teacher about the application deadline."_

"_No, Haruhi, that's not it!"_

"_Huh?"_

"_Haruhi, I want to go out!_

"_..."_

"_..."_

"_...okay. The faculty doors are closest, I think."_

The others had laughed, and Arai had smiled along, shoving the tell-tale trickles of pain that still twinged in his gut down, while Haruhi flushed, making her even prettier in his eyes.

She apologized, and they continued to talk for a while, discussing Kyoto and their middle school days, adding little comments here and there. Arai tried to shrug off the tension the mean-eyed twin had thrown into the conversation with his comment with grace while the others discussed temples; after all, he was a guest here, and these were Haruhi's classmates.

But the same boy later (the meaner of the twins; Hikaru, perhaps?) had started yelling at him, saying that Haruhi didn't care about him, that he wasn't her friend anymore, that _they_ were, and that nobody wanted to hear their stories about the past, before running from the table, upset. And the rest of her friends had hurried to apologize for him, saying he didn't really mean it, but Arai just smiled sadly and shook them off, saying it was okay.

Because the fact was, it _was_ true. Parts of it, anyway.

Haruhi wasn't very good at making friends. He knew she only kept in touch with Kazumi because they had been raised together from preschool, and it was more from habit than anything else. And those few friends she made, she had trouble keeping. It was in her nature, Arai supposed. Haruhi had grown up alone, and he supposed she was perfectly content on staying that way.

Haruhi was more concerned with going as far as she could than with things like making keeping in touch with friends.

Such things didn't matter much to her.

Arai had known when he'd fallen for her that it wouldn't end well, that it _couldn't_ end well, not when she had no idea of normal social behavior, and not when he was much too shy to guide things along completely. He had known that she wouldn't keep in touch and wouldn't answer his letters, and he had known that he probably wouldn't ever see her again.

He had known it all when he'd fallen for her, but that didn't make it any less painful looking back.

And now, looking at this now, as her friend ran off, his jealously of him burning clearly in his eyes, Arai felt his heart go out to the poor boy.

For after high school, would Haruhi stay in touch with him? Or would she toss him by the wayside as well? Would the boy ever confess his true feelings of what he felt for her? And would she accept him, or view him as a dead weight, holding her back from her true potential? How would it all turn out?

With Haruhi, you never knew.

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Read it? Please review! 


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